May snowstorm wallops Rockies, north-central USA

May 2, 2013
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Kelly Scholl, a horticulturist in Fort Collins, Colo., knocks heavy snow from a tree at a garden center on Wednesday. Parts of Colorado and Wyoming are beginning May with another wet blanket of powder. / Rich Abrahamson, AP

by Doyle Rice, @usatodayweather, USA TODAY

by Doyle Rice, @usatodayweather, USA TODAY

An unusual May snowstorm dumped several inches of snow across portions of the Rockies, Plains and Midwest on Wednesday and today, with ongoing snow in the forecast throughout the day today in much of Minnesota and Wisconsin.

More than 8 inches of snow had piled up in in Brainerd, Minn., through Thursday morning as snow continued to fall, AccuWeather reported. The biggest snow total so far in Minnesota is 15.5 inches in Owatonna, according to Weather Channel meteorologist Mike Seidel.

The National Weather Service reported that this was the biggest May snowstorm on record in the state. Winter storm warnings remained in effect in southeastern Minnesota and western Wisconsin.

Localized power outages have been reported in portions of southern Minnesota due to downed power lines from the heavy, wet nature of the snow, the Weather Channel reported.

Students in more than 30 school districts are enjoying a rare snow day in May, while utility crews went to work early Thursday to restore power to more than 20,000 Xcel Energy customers.

The Minnesota Department of Transportation says travel is still not advised across much of southeastern Minnesota.

Up to 18 inches of snow fell in parts of Larimer County in Colorado from the same system on Wednesday.

In Denver, the city tied a record low temperature of 19 degrees overnight. On Wednesday afternoon, the temperature was 30 degrees in Denver, just two days after the city basked in an afternoon high temperature of 80 degrees.

In Dodge City, Kan., the temperature Thursday morning fell to 32 degrees, after recording a high of 91 degrees on Tuesday.

As the storm rolled out from the Rockies, it continued to produce a swath of heavy snow overnight and early Thursday from portions of eastern Nebraska to Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin and upper Michigan, AccuWeather meteorologist Brian Edwards said."

There have been some snowstorms in May in the region, but they are rare, AccuWeather meteorologist Alex Sosnowski said.

This was the first one-inch-plus May snowfall anywhere in the state of Iowa since 1967 and the first such May snow in Sioux Falls, S.D. since 1944, the Weather Channel reports.

The Weather Channel has named it Winter Storm Achilles as part of its new winter-storm naming system. The winter has been so full of storms that the Weather Channel has had to start a second alphabetical list of Latin and Greek names, as the first list ended with Zeus, according to Weather Channel spokeswoman Maureen Marshall.